Tag : lfc

We All Dream Of A Team Of Carraghers: Tribute To A Liverpool Legend by Matt Sproston My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a short book, a collection of essays on the career of Liverpool Football Club’s star defender, Jamie Carragher. It was good to reminisce about Carra’s early career, when he played a utility role across the defence and midfield. The stories of Istanbul are exceptional and take me back to the great match at the Ataturk Olympic stadium, where I was a spectator. It is good to hear other key professionals views on Carragher and the best part of the book was the lengthy interview taken in the aftermath of the 2005 EC victory. I thought the criticism of Carra’s new role at Sky Sports was a bit premature. He could very well go on to become the new Hansen and I think it is a noble calling for another LFC legend. I’d like to go on to read further about Jamie Carragher and I think his autobiography has been updated recently so may go out and buy that. Jamie Carragher is one of the finest footballers ever to have graced the game and he will be remembered in Liverpool folklore forever. View all my reviews

The ten match ban which has dragged on since last season is finally over. Our star striker, El Pistolero, will be back available for selection this week for our critical clash with Manchester United in the fourth round of the League Cup. After the dismal results in the league for the past two games, hopefully Suarez will be very welcome back at his club. Will the fans support him as vociferously as they have done since he signed from Ajax in January 2011? I for one found the summer particularly frustrating. I love Suarez and especially the goals he scores for us. He is the club’s star player and was unlucky not to have outshined Gareth Bale in all the major player awards last season. Big players do attract interest from other top clubs and Suarez is no different. I can remember how distraught I was when the Gerrard deal to Chelsea was almost done and dusted. This summer brought back those terrible memories. OK, Steven Gerrard finally had a flash of common sense and decided to stay at his boyhood club and the supporters rallied even further behind our iconic club captain. But, will the case be the same for Luis Suarez? At first, I dismissed the early summer transfer talk as pure speculation, but then it slowly started to emerge that the rumours were rooted in truth. Suarez used the press he claimed he hated so much to try to engineer his dream move to Real Madrid. Here we have a player claiming how he wants to leave England because of the press hounding he gets and then in almost the same breath, he uses the very same press to express his discontent at Liverpool. OK, he had a point on several issues. We didn’t qualify for the Champions League yet again, not even the mediocrity of the Europa League can indeed be promised this season. Our league finish was very poor and we finished a country mile away from our targets. A trophyless season leaves both players and fans disappointed. But, stick with the program, Luis. You are our talisman, our lead goalscorer. At Anfield you have the total support of the best fans in the world. Can the likes of Arsenal offer the vibrant crowd action that the Kop generates? Not even Madrid have the dedicated support of Liverpool. As the summer wore on, the player…

It was the quarter finals of the European Cup in 2005. A tense fixture at Anfield against Juventus, the first time we’d faced them since the Heysel stadium disaster of 1985. I was sat in the Anfield Road stand, just next to the away supporters. Sami Hyppia put us in front, with a stunning goal an then Liverpool Lu popped up to score the most remarkable goal I’ve ever witnessed in a live game. When you watch football on the television, I don’t care what anyone says, it simply doesn’t beat seeing it in the flesh, at the game. Luis Garcia latched onto a throughball from Anthony Le Tallec and slotted the most perfect volley past Buffon, one of the most highly rated keepers in the game. It was football magic. Sheer bliss. Garcia was already one of my favourite players and I was truly sorry to see him eventually return to Spain. Part of the European Cup winning class of 2005. A vintage year. An awesome strike. Altogether now: Luis Garcia, He drinks Sangria, He came from Barca, To bring us joy, He’s five foot seven, he’s football heaven, Oh Please don’t take our Luis away!

Well, it was an explosive start to the game with Shelvey proving how keen he was to show the Reds they had made a mistake in selling him during the summer transfer window. Shelvey scored in the first minute with a well-taken goal which left Liverpool newcomer, Sakho, in the shade, his premiership baptism not going particularly well. Shelvey, however, was no saviour for Swansea, as only minutes later he inadvertedly gave an easy back pass to Daniel Sturridge, whose on fire goalscoring record allowed him to suitably capitalise on his former teammate’s mistake. It was 1-1. The first half was pretty evenly balanced in terms of possession, with good passing from both teams and end-to-end action. Mignolet made a noticeable save, Skrtel made a critical last ditch goal-line tackle, and Sturridge was unlucky not to score after a perfect Victor Moses cross. Another debutant, Victor Moses was showing his strength down the wing, and he cropped up to score a beautiful goal just before half time. Liverpool went into the interval a goal to the good with the score standing at 2-1. The second half lacked some of the vigour of the first. Coutinho picked up a nasty shoulder injury and was substituted for Iago Aspas. A key player missing no doubt for a while. Shelvey continued his keenness to prove his worth to his new club and was rewarded by setting up the very dangerous Michu, who banged in Swansea’s second goal, making it 2-2. Liverpool threatened the goal far less in the second half and it was frustrating not being able to round off a fourth consecutive victory. Mignolet has a good game overall and made some decent contributions in keeping the Swans out, but he’ll be disappointed to have lost his 100% record of clean sheets. The final whistle came after a good five minutes of injury time and a draw and one point was all that Liverpool could take. Still, Swansea isn’t the easiest of places to go in the Premiership and get a result. We aren’t going to march through the season winning every game. We have to be satisfied with the away point. It places us back at the top of the league, after four games, a point separating us from Arsenal and Tottenham. A home game against Southampton on Saturday could prove a lot easier than tonight’s fixture. Gerrard The Red’s Man…